Generally, an air conditioner for a vehicle provides a comfortable atmosphere by controlling the temperature and humidity in the vehicle, and includes a cooling device for cooling and a heating device for heating the inside of the vehicle.
The cooling device generates cold air by absorbing latent heat required to vaporize a refrigerant from the surroundings of an evaporator while the refrigerant passes through the evaporator, and the cold air is supplied to the inside of the vehicle.
The heating device generates warm air by heating air surrounding a heater core by inducing cooling water from an engine room to the heater core, and the warm air is supplied to the inside of the vehicle.
A conventional air conditioner comprises an air conditioning case in which an airflow path is formed, a blower unit that blows air along the airflow path in the air conditioning case, and heat exchangers for generating cold air or warm air, sequentially disposed in the airflow path.
The air conditioner for a vehicle can be classified into a semi-center mounting type and a center mounting type according to the disposition of the blow unit. The semi-center mounting type has a blower unit on a side of an air conditioning case and supplies air along an airflow path of the air conditioning case through a guide pipe connected to the blower unit. The center mounting type has a blower unit mounted in an air conditioning case and supplies air along an airflow path of the air conditioning case directly from the blower unit. The semi-center mounting type has an advantage of utilizing an inner space for forming the airflow path, thereby providing a high degree of designing freedom. On the other hand, the center mounting type does not occupy much space in a vehicle, and can be used regardless of the location of the driver.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional air conditioner for a vehicle.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional air conditioner comprises an air conditioning case 1 in which an airflow path 3 is formed, and an evaporator 4 for cooling and a heater core 6 for heating, which are sequentially disposed in the airflow path 3 of the air conditioning case 1. Here, a door 5 controls the closing/opening operations of a connection path for flowing the air that has passed through the evaporator 4 to the heater core 6. When a driver selects a desired air conditioning mode, the closing/opening operations of the door 5 are controlled according to the selected mode, and the conditioned air is sent inside the vehicle accordingly.
However, the conventional air conditioner for a vehicle has the following disadvantages.
First, an amount of air entered into the airflow path 3 of the air conditioning case 1 is not sufficient enough and an airflow resistance is high since the air flows only on a side of the evaporator 4.
Second, a uniform airflow distribution at the lower part of the evaporator 4 is difficult since the air enters only from above and below in the evaporator 4.